There's a lot of work to getting an artist website up and running, and once it's done, take some time to pat yourself on the back and indulge in a flavored coffee with lots of whipped cream. But after you're done, it's time to wash the glass and get back to work, and the work involved in a website is keeping it up to date. If you do this regularly, this shouldn't take much time each week, but, like laundry, it will take time each week, and the longer you put it off, the more likely it is that you will run out of socks.

Did you just complete a painting? Then get an image taken of it and load it onto your website. You can announce it on the front page as well as feature it as the main image on the site until your next painting takes its place.

There's a time for mentally wandering down the beach, and a time for doing the necessary work to keep your website up to date. After the latter – that's the time to daydream. Daydreaming by Steve Henderson. Courtesy Steve Henderson Fine Art.

Have you been accepted to a show? Put it in your Events/Exhibition section as well as the running résumé in your "about the artist" section. You might want to change the heading on the painting's page itself to reflect where it is: "Sunshine in Tucson"–Accepted to the International Oil Painting Show. Just remember, when the show is over and if the painting doesn't sell, to change the heading.

Did a painting sell? This is the most fun change of all. Make sure you let people know your fine art oil painting sold, whether you put an electronic red dot beside it or transfer the image to a sold section or just writing SOLD! next to the title.

Are you teaching a workshop? We have a section on our website for Steve's oil painting art workshops, and our website host automatically takes the workshop off and puts it into archives once the date of the class is over–whew, one more task I don't have to do. But the one task I do have to do is fill out the information for the workshop before it happens.

The more you're doing, the more changes and updates there are to make, but this is when the research work you put into choosing your website provider in the first place pays off. If it's easy to make changes, then they won't take long to make.

–Carolyn

P.S. What other information do you include on your website that has proven helpful? Things to avoid? Leave a comment and let me know!

Thank you Carolyn for your very timely post. My website has just gone live and I am so excited. I think my website is structured a little differently to your suggestions but I hope I can still implement what your are sharing. Many thanks, Michelle. Here’s my site http://michelleendersbyart.com/